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The original school building, opened in 1936, is located on Lee
Highway (U.S.Route 29) in western Fairfax City, and is
currently occupied by Paul VI Catholic High School. Fairfax High School moved to its present
site, on the east side of the city, in January 1972. FHS recently
underwent a $54 million renovation designed by architectural firm
BeeryRio that was completed November 2007. Renovations began in
March 2005 and added an additional . of classroom space.

Principals

Test scores

Fairfax High School is a fully accredited high school based on the
Standards of Learning tests in
Virginia. The average SAT score in 2008 for FHS was 1,596.

Rankings

In 2008-2009 Fairfax High School was ranked the nation's 131st best
high school. It placed 6th best out of nearly 30 schools in Fairfax
County, and placed 2nd overall in the Concorde District, only
behind Centreville High School. It did, however, beat Chantilly,
Oakton, Westfield, Robinson and Herndon high schools, which
typically are Fairfax's athletic competitors.

Athletics

Fairfax's nickname is the Rebels, and the athletic teams currently
compete in the AAA Liberty
District and Northern
Region. The closest high schools to Fairfax are
Oakton (1.9 miles north) and W.T.Woodson (2.4 miles south). The Northern Region was
realigned for the 1994-95 school year, with Fairfax being placed in
the Liberty District, and Annandale in the Patriot District.
Without
district competition, the rivalry with Annandale has lessened, and
Fairfax's main rival is now nearby W.T.Woodson.

In athletics, Fairfax is probably best known for the strong
football teams that it fielded
under the guidance of head coach Tom Verbanic. His teams achieved
perfect 10-0 regular seasons in 1991, 1998, and 1999. However, the
team's greatest success came during the 1994 season. That team achieved a
9-1 record during the regular season, with the only loss being a
17-0 drubbing to rival Annandale in Week 2.Before losing in the state semifinals, the
team captured the school's only Northern Region football title, by
way of a closely contested 15-14 win over West
Potomac.Fairfax's final record in 1994 was 11-2,
with the only losses being to teams that won state titles in the
largest classifications - Patrick Henry-Ashland (AAA Division 5) and Annandale (AAA Division
6).

Following the 1999 season, Coach Verbanic left Fairfax to start the
football program at the newly opened Westfield High School. Westfield's Director
of Student Activities was Francis Dall, Verbanic's college roommate
at the University of
Virginia.Prior to his current role, Dall was an
extremely successful head football coach in his own right at
Lake
Braddock Secondary School, which had the most wins of any high school in the
Northern Region in the 1990s.

Following Coach Verbanic's departure, Fairfax has not returned to
the playoffs. To understand how far the program has fallen, one
only has to look at the 2007 season, which resulted in a second
straight 1-9 record, including being shut out six times and
allowing a total of 322 points. By comparison, the 1994 team only
allowed 90 points during the regular season, and 153 points
including the three playoff games.

Fairfax athletes who have been First Team All-Met selections by the
Washington Post, since the 1990-91 school year:

Johnny Reb controversy

The previous mascot of Fairfax High School
was a caricature of a Confederate soldier known as "Johnny Reb" (see picture at left). Due to
complaints from black students and
parents, and at the suggestion of the school’s Minority Achievement
Task Force, the principal (H. Holsinger) removed the Johnny Reb
symbol in 1985. Student protests, rallies, and a lawsuit followed,
which challenged the principal’s actions as violating the First
Amendment guarantees of free speech.
In Crosby v.Holsinger, 852 F.2d 801 (4th Cir.
1988),
the 4th
Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the federal district court decision in
favor of the principal. Though the school maintains its
nickname of the Rebels, the mascot for Fairfax High is a lion.

Chorus

The Fairfax High School Choral Department is currently directed by
Luke Frels and consists of five ensembles divided by skill level,
as well as by the requirement of audition. A beginning group,
Women's Concert Choir which is available to freshman women only.
Intermediate groups, Men's Ensemble and Select Women's Choir which
are made available to men in grades 9-12 and women in grades 10-12.
Finally, the two auditioned advanced choral groups, Bel Canto , a
group of select women in grades 10-12 and Voce, a selective mixed
ensemble for students in 10-12th grades. The choral department also
has two extracurricular groups Show/Jazz Choir, and Rebel Treble, a
auditioned student-led mixed a
Cappella ensemble. Approximately 110 students participate
in the Fairfax choirs. Fairfax choral students also participate in
District Chorus, Virginia Honors Choir and All-State Chorus, as
well as a regional competition trip in the spring. Choral groups
perform music of many periods and styles and develop musicianship
through vocal technique, sight-reading, and music theory. The choir
program holds several concerts over the course of the year, the
largest, Spring Show is held in early May and a Cabaret is held in the early winter. In addition to the
choral concerts held at FHS, students have performed in the Fairfax
musicals, at the Fairfax Festival of Lights, George Mason
basketball games, corporate parties, Fairfax Corner, the New York
City Festivals of Music, Heritage Festival in Atlanta,
Georgia, the Smoky Mountain Music Festival in Gatlinburg,
Tennessee and Festival Disney.

Band

Fairfax has a strong band program, including a marching band which
has won numerous championships. Included in the Rebel Band is the
Fairfax High School Drumline, which placed third in the Atlantic
Indoor Association (AIA) championships in North Carolina in 2006.
In 2009,
they performed in Dayton,
Ohio for Winter
Guard International and received 4th place in their preliminary
group and 18th in semifinals. Overall, they placed 18th out
of 60 groups. Other teams that accompany the Band program are the
Fall Guard (competes with the marching band) and the Winterguard
(competes separately). The Fairfax High School Band is currently
under the direction of Ms. Meghan Benson, and won second place at a
band competition at the Smoky Mountain Music Festival, in Gatlinburg,
Tennessee in the spring of 2008. The Marching Band won
third place in the local 4th of July Parade independence Day
celebration, and was awarded $2000 in 2008. At the end of the 2008
Marching Rebel season the band received a 1- Superior rating at the
VBODA Championships. The Fairfax High School Band Program received
a superior rating at both Marching and Symphonic Band festivals
making it eligible to receive the award of Virginia State Honor
Band for the first time in the school's nearly 90 year history.
Because of the work of the Marching Band and Symphonic Band along
with the work of the orchestral and choral departments, Fairfax was
able to earn the title of Blue Ribbon School for the performing
arts, which is achieved by Superior ratings at VBODA state marching
festival, and a Superior rating for each of the top performing
groups at District Festival. At the competition on their spring
trip in the year 2009 to Orlando, Florida, the Rebel band placed
second in its class by a margin of less than one point and received
the Silver Award Overall in Festival Disney.

In its 2009 season, the Marching Rebels won all of the competitions
they competed in and got awards for quality music and general
effect. They performed the show called Heroes, Gods and
Mythical Creatures and performed at the Herndon USSBA
Regionals, the Oakton Classic, and the James Madison University
Parade of Champions. The Rebels placed first in Class 3A in the
Herndon Showcase of Bands without proper uniforms which were
destroyed in a flood due to a heating malfunction, also received
first at the Oakton Classic. At the final major competition, the
band placed 1st in Class 3A with a score of 84.75. At the VBODA
state marching festival the rebels received a superior rating and
got straight 1s from all of the judges.

Orchestra

The Fairfax High School Orchestra Department is currently directed
by Cynthia Crumb as well as Anna Sengstack. The Orchestra consists
of three different levels; Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced.
The Beginning Orchestra focuses on basic elements of music
education and teaches the student fundamentals to prepare them and
educate them on music. Intermediate is an orchestra designed to
test and challenge the musicians at a higher level. And the
Advanced Orchestra is the highest level in the Orchestra
Department. There are approximately 100 students in the Orchestra
program for the enrollment of the 2009-2010 school year. The
Orchestra annually participates in District Festival in which the
orchestra plays a series of pieces and is graded on them. Often
times it is believed that the experience is a competition between
schools, but it is highly encouraged that the competition be
amongst and within the students. The Orchestra also attends a
Spring trip annually to various places in America. Some examples
include Atlanta, Orlando, New York, and Gatlinburg. This school
year of 2009-2010, the Fairfax High School Orchestra plans to
attend Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for their annual Spring Trip.
The Orchestra is also known for their pit appearances in school
plays such as Beauty & the Beast and A Funny Thing Happened on
the Way to the Forum.

In 2008-2009, The Fairfax High School Orchestra, along with the
Chorus and Band Department earned the Blue Ribbon Award, which is
awarded to a school in which the highest section of each music
department receives Superiors at District Festival.

Theatre

The FX Players is the Drama Club at Fairfax High School. They are
dedicated toward the promotion of theatre in every aspect. The
current director and sponsor is Wendy Knight.

Fairfax has an orchestra pit that can
be covered and uncovered, but it is normally kept in the house
floor position due to safety concerns. For the run of The King and I in 2007, however, the pit
was opened. It was then closed again, and the orchestra has played
at house level since. The members of the pit orchestra are some of
the only musicians in Fairfax County to have ever played a musical
in an actual orchestra pit (Hayfield Secondary School also has a
working orchestra pit). The pit sinks six feet below the
stage.

The FX Players won the State Title at the VHSL One-Act Competition
in 2008. They placed second at Districts in 2009.

It's Academic

The "It's Academic" team participates
in quiz bowl tournaments throughout
Virginia, Maryland, and DC, most notably NBC 4's "It's Academic"
game show hosted by Mac McGarry. It is
currently coached and sponsored by Dave Carr.

The team competes well in tournaments. In January 2009, Fairfax
placed second in the Concorde
District at the VHSL
AAA District Tournament. The team advanced to the regional
tournament for the first time in several years. Overall, Fairfax
placed third in the Northern Region tying with Langley High School.

Feeder patterns

Daniels Run Elementary School, Willow Springs Elementary School,
Providence Elementary School, and Fairfax Villa Elementary School
all feed into Lanier Middle
School, which feeds into Fairfax High School. Additionally,
some students from the listed elementary schools attend Willow
Springs Elementary school for the Gifted & Talented Center
(often referred to as the GT center). All students
continuing with the GT program through middle school who would
normally attend Lanier-feeding schools attend Rocky Run
Middle School for the Rocky Run GT Center and later attend
Fairfax High School.

Bill Pulsipher - The 1991
Washington Post All-Met Player of the Year in baseball. Drafted by
the New York Mets in the second round of the 1991 Major League
Baseball Draft. Went on to pitch for 4 additional teams, including
the Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and St.
Louis Cardinals.